CINCH CHAMPIONSHIPS

June 22, 2024

Tommy Paul

Queens Club

Press Conference

T. PAUL/S. Korda

6-4, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. Congrats, Tommy. How were you feeling towards the end of the second set? Obviously up 5-3 and then it was 5-All, Love-30. I think you slipped, a few bad bounces, he was playing well. How did you keep ahead of him?

TOMMY PAUL: Well, the 5-3 game, I think he held at love, right? Then obviously 5-4 -- sorry, I was serving 5-3. The game before, 5-2, he held at love. That game, when I served for the set, he played a really good game. I mean, I made a mistake on the first point, but a little bit unlucky bounce.

Then he took advantage, started playing some really aggressive tennis. His shots were landing deep and he was hitting them very hard. That's a tough combination to deal with.

Then obviously the 5-All game, he had a little bit of a look, I mean, 15-30 or Love-30, so that was really important to, you know, get that game and force a tiebreak.

I mean, he played really those four, five games, he stepped up his level a ton. I wouldn't say I dropped off or anything. He really stepped it up. Then in the breaker, I was hoping to get to a breaker, because obviously, you know, in tiebreaks, things can change. You can be playing really good for a whole set and make a couple of errors, and getting that first point was big for me in the breaker.

Q. It's obviously Lorenzo next. I don't believe you have actually played him before on tour. What do you make of him as an opponent, particularly on this surface?

TOMMY PAUL: Yeah, he's been playing great on the grass. I mean, obviously a few years back he was, I'd say he probably first started getting good results on the clay, and his game adapted really, really well to the grass. He's been playing awesome tennis.

I mean, I'm excited for the matchup. Like you said, we have never played before, so that's kind of rare on tour. But, yeah, I'm excited for it.

Q. I just wanted to ask, Lorenzo told me that you know each other really, really well, although, I mean, you never had a match. So does that help you? Because you know him really well, you played doubles if I remember, so will that help you or maybe...

TOMMY PAUL: I mean, it will help me just as much as it helps him. We practiced together a little bit, and we played doubles, like you said.

It was kind of like before he really broke onto the tour. I mean, I asked him to play dubs at the French Open one year, and we had a couple of practices in. I mean, he's obviously worked his way up. He got to I think somewhere in the teens. He's playing some great tennis now.

I'm not sure if us knowing each other, like, gives anybody an advantage, but yeah, I'm excited for the match.

Q. I think I read that if you win the final you might become American No. 1. What would that mean to you and what you have made of your run as well this week?

TOMMY PAUL: Yeah, I mean, that would be awesome. The main goal is -- I mean, I got to 12 in the world at some point last year. I want to get to 10. I want to be top 10. Then from there, we keep going.

I said I wanted to win more tournaments this year, and I got one title this year, but that's been the goal. I want to go home with trophies.

I have an opportunity to do that tomorrow, so I'm definitely going to come out ready to play.

Q. You have said you want more titles. You have had many great weeks in your career. What's the difference between a great week but finishing with a win at the end?

TOMMY PAUL: Well, I mean, we were talking about it this week with my team. I think somebody pointed out last week on social media that I had, like, 33 quarterfinals. We were, like, that's a pretty good number. Then we look and I had, like, 11 semifinals.

So it's getting past those quarters and those semifinal matches, giving yourself an opportunity to win titles.

Obviously this week I have done a pretty good job of that. With the match yesterday, it was a really good match. Then today. It gets tricky. Later in the tournament, you play better players. That's just the way it is. Getting through those matches is everything.